Maybe grow some leeks too
March 9, 2017 9:41 AM   Subscribe

 
Have they tried growing peas?
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:51 AM on March 9, 2017 [9 favorites]


If you ate asparagus grown this way, would your pee smell like urine?
posted by TedW at 10:10 AM on March 9, 2017 [20 favorites]


BAD DOG! Stay out of my garden!
posted by Going To Maine at 10:17 AM on March 9, 2017 [5 favorites]


My initial idea of a german lab
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:17 AM on March 9, 2017 [6 favorites]


If you ate asparagus grown this way, would your pee smell like urine?

Solution: Only grow asparagus in pee that smells like asparagus.

(Similarly, I look forward to fruits and veggies with a detectable note of Sugar Smacks.)
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:27 AM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


“For me as a scientist, faeces is not quite gold like urine,” says Hauslage, “but it contains a lot of potassium which we need for a good fertiliser.”

I see what he did there.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:33 AM on March 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


That's very cool. I've wondered about this before. Cleaning everything out of urine to reuse it makes sense, but since there's a bunch of stuff in there that could be reused as-is in some way, why not allow a natural process to use the urine? It looks like there are other nice byproducts possible also.

This is exactly the kind of thing to point to when people say space exploration is a waste of time and money. Making edible food, balancing an atmosphere, reusing waste, cleaning water for re-use. These are all things that we could use now and might be much more necessary in the future right here at home.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 10:39 AM on March 9, 2017 [6 favorites]


I was really hoping that this was the pupper version of a lab. My happy daydream of a dopey pup getting so excited when he peed on a tree and a tomato plant sprouted was sorely dashed when I RTFA.
posted by quiet coyote at 10:42 AM on March 9, 2017 [3 favorites]


Why a German lab is growing tomatoes in urine

Saved you a click: SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE
posted by maryr at 10:42 AM on March 9, 2017 [6 favorites]


Pre-salted!
posted by IndigoJones at 11:04 AM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


without rtfa, I'm assuming from the comments that there's a dog growing veggies in space?
posted by numaner at 11:04 AM on March 9, 2017 [8 favorites]


A well-hydrated one, yes.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:12 PM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


I believe the correct answer is "to prove that it is possible." It's science, after all.
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:35 PM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


I've been investigating something like this for raising fish. What you do is have a large pool with tilapia. The fish generate nitrates that pollute the water. You circulate the water over the roots of tomatoes/ lettuce and other plants that pull the nitrates out of the water to grow the plant. Supposed to work pretty good and greatly cuts down on the amount of unproductive maintenance needed with your fish pool. Plus yummy vegetables.
posted by Mitheral at 12:40 PM on March 9, 2017


Don't forget to add chickens to close the loop, Mitheral.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 12:55 PM on March 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


If you put the storage/weight/logistical constraints of space travel aside, there's plenty of agricultural research on using human urine as a fertilizer. Here's a Scientific American article from 2010 about it. And people do this for their home gardens, as is referenced in this article -- you just need to dilute it quite a bit (about 10 parts water to 1 part pee) to avoid nitrogen burn.
posted by desuetude at 1:15 PM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


Trumpmatoes
posted by Cookiebastard at 1:56 PM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


No.
posted by pxe2000 at 2:00 PM on March 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


And my girlfriend gets mad when I pee in the crisper. This'll show her!
posted by cmoj at 2:29 PM on March 9, 2017 [6 favorites]


I was disappointed by the tomato photo cause it should have been the first one and there should have been both a close up one and one further back. Cool story, tho.
posted by Bella Donna at 4:27 PM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


Grandpa always peed on the compost pit. For reasons.
posted by BlueHorse at 4:59 PM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


" there's plenty of agricultural research on using human urine as a fertilizer. Here's a Scientific American article from 2010 about it. And people do this for their home gardens, as is referenced in this article -- you just need to dilute it quite a bit (about 10 parts water to 1 part pee) to avoid nitrogen burn."

Oh, God, nobody tell Micro McGee. We let him watch The Martian when he was four, and he was so inspired by Mark Watney pooping on his potatoes that the next time he had to poop, he tried to run out into the backyard to poop on dad's potatoes, I was like, "Uh, bathroom's that way" and he was like "BUT I HAVE TO POOP ON THE POTATOES!" and so on and then he burst into tears when I wouldn't let him. Entire argument carried out while he held tightly to his butt with both hands because he had to go REALLY BAD.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:10 PM on March 9, 2017 [22 favorites]


I've been investigating something like this for raising fish. What you do is have a large pool with tilapia. The fish generate nitrates that pollute the water. You circulate the water over the roots of tomatoes/ lettuce and other plants that pull the nitrates out of the water to grow the plant. Supposed to work pretty good and greatly cuts down on the amount of unproductive maintenance needed with your fish pool. Plus yummy vegetables.

The usual thing with tilapia is to put your outhouse over the fish pond, so they can feed off of your waste before you feed off of them. I'm sure the pond water would have sky-high nutrient loads after even one season, and the sludge that settled to the bottom would probably make excellent fertilizer.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:14 PM on March 9, 2017


Good post, great title.
posted by exogenous at 6:49 PM on March 9, 2017


Eyebrows McGee: I'm dying here!'n
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 10:46 PM on March 9, 2017


Peeing in the compost pile is a time honored tradition. It's for the nitrogen and also for not having to go inside to use the bathroom. Motivations vary.

Didn't expect this to turn out so strictly hydroponic.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 1:14 AM on March 10, 2017 [2 favorites]




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